Characters Of The Reformation

226 CHARACTERS OF THE REFORMATION
is formed, there was a struggle as to whether
that religious organization or its opponents
should get hold of him. His own mother, Mary
Queen of Scots, had died because she was strongly
Catholic and because she represented the Catholic
cause; and James himself always had a personal
leaning, if not to the Catholic spirit, at least to
Catholic individuals. His opposition to the
Church was political rather than doctrinal;
he prided himself on his learning, especially
in theology; and it is only fair to admit that he
did not pride himself without some cause. He
was a very widely-read man, and one of high
culture, though of displeasing and probably
vicious character. He regarded pretty well
any tenet as debatable, save that one tenet which
roused him to wrath—the supremacy of the
Pope in moral matters^ even over sovereign
Princes.
It is impossible to say what would have hap-
pened in the way of Catholic toleration under
James I, but for the action of that man of genius,
Robert Cecil. He was the second of the Cecils
who governed England. His father, William
Cecil, had taken over the management of the
country in 1559, trained his son Robert to state-
craft, and was succeeded by that son, without
a break, although efforts were made in the transi-
tion of power from father to son to disrupt the